USA: Tour of Colonial-Era Jewish New York City

USA: The Jewish Community of Colonial New Amsterdam: A Walking Tour of Lower Manhattan














Photos: Congregation Shearith Israel Early Cemetery, New York. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber










The Lower East Side Conservancy offers a walking tour (approximately 2 and ½ hours) of a largely unknown period of Jewish history on Sunday, November 16. The tour will include a visit to the usually locked early cemetery of Congregation Shearith Israel, across from Chatham Square. The cemetery is the oldest surviving Jewish burial place in New York.

The tour traces the history of the first Jewish settlement in the United States, visiting the sites (most original features do not survive) of the first Jewish institutions in New Amsterdam (later renamed New York):

• First & Second Spanish/Portuguese Rented Synagogues of Congregation Shearith Israel;
• First Mill Street Synagogue;
• Colonial Revival Houses;
• Stone Street;
• Sites of the homes of: Asser Levy,( ?-1681) New Amsterdam's first kosher butcher &
Gershom Mendes Seixas, (1745-1816), first native-born Jewish minister.
• This program concludes with a tour and presentation of the first Jewish cemetery at Chatham Square, in Chinatown.

Details: “The Jewish Community of Colonial New Amsterdam: A Walking Tour of Lower Manhattan”
Sunday, November 16, 2008 11:15 AM

Meeting at corner of Pearl and Broad Streets, across from Fraunces Tavern Museum
$18 adults; $16 seniors/students-$2 off with pre-registration

For information/reservations, contact LESJC (212) 374-4100 X 1,2 or 3,
e-mail at lesconservancy@aol.com / www.nycjewishtours.org

The Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving, sharing and celebrating the Jewish Heritage of the Lower East Side. Private customized tours available by appointment.